Here’s one for the "states are laboratories of Web innovation" file: The folks at Acquia have produced a white paper about the state of Georgia, which moved its entire Web presence, including 55 state agency websites, over to an open-source and cloud-based Drupal system in 2012.

Drupal is an open source content management system that serves as the backbone for a number of federal websites, including the White House site. Open source Web tools are often cheaper and easier to upgrade than their proprietary counterparts.

A spokesman from Acquia, which managed the changeover, confirmed Georgia is the first state to move entirely to Drupal. The change is projected to save the $4.7 million over five years, Acquia said.

Most federal agencies are still a long way from moving their entire Web presences to Drupal or similar open source systems, partly because agencies tend to have a much larger Web presence than states that include more legacy systems.

Joseph Marks covers government technology issues, social media, Gov 2.0 and global Internet freedom for Nextgov. He previously reported on federal litigation and legal policy for Law360 and on local, state and regional issues for two Midwestern newspapers. He also interned for Congressional Quarterly’s Homeland Security section and the Associated Press’s Jerusalem Bureau. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s in international affairs from Georgetown.

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